


Finding Our Dynamic

by MelodramaticSalad



Series: Sterek Week 2017 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alive Hale Family, Alpha Derek Hale, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - No Hale Fire, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Attempted Sexual Assault, Bartender Derek Hale, Bonding, College Student Stiles, Hale family - Freeform, M/M, Mates, Mates Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Misunderstandings, Omega Stiles Stilinski, Online Dating, Pack Dynamics, Protective Derek Hale, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski Friendship, Sterek Week 2017, Werewolf Culture, Werewolf Mates, Werewolf Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-29
Updated: 2017-10-29
Packaged: 2019-01-26 04:52:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12549360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelodramaticSalad/pseuds/MelodramaticSalad
Summary: Stiles is an omega, sick of how society has had a tendency to treat his fellow omegas. Deciding to try and move past it to find a mate of his own, he gives online dating a try. When things don't work out as he plans, he meets someone that ends up changing his life.Written for Day Four of Sterek Week, to the theme of mates.





	Finding Our Dynamic

**Author's Note:**

> I added a tag for it, but in the beginning of the fic, there is a minor sexual assault on Stiles. Nothing happens and it doesn't go anywhere, I just put a warning up as a potential trigger warning so it doesn't come out of nowhere!

_Stiles. Age 24, College Student. Definitely loves good food and having a good time. California born and raised, looking for men or women, I’m not picky._

Stiles’ fingers hovered over his keyboard as he stared blankly at the profile he was setting up for the dating website. His leg bounced as he thought about what else he could post. He’d tried the dating scene around his school, but nothing really seemed to work out for him that wasn’t the occasional one night stand. Stiles had always been cynical about finding his mate, but after going through too many heartbreaks, he figured that maybe he could give it a try. Perhaps his mate was out there, somewhere in the world, hopefully somewhere close. He sighed and moved onto the questions, checking off different things.

 _Interests: Psychology, Baseball, Movies, Music, Books, Outdoors._ He clicked the different boxes that fit his interests before finally moving on to the next question.

_Pack Status:_

Stiles frowned at the words for a long moment before he finally sighed out and clicked one.

_Unclaimed Omega_

He knew that was going to draw some assholes straight to his inbox, it always did. He hated the dynamics and the stereotypes that followed with them. His entire life, he’d gotten many comments about how he surprised people since he was such an outspoken omega. Stiles wanted to break the stupid patterns that had been set for far too many years.

He didn’t care about being an omega, and he didn’t care about getting claimed by an alpha. On weekends he volunteered at an ABO support center on his campus. He helped different werewolves with their problems, and the people he talked to most were omegas. It always made him feel sick to see how people would still treat omegas. Times were getting better, but there were still too many people that were set in the old ways. He could remember when he was a child and he heard about an omega that had managed to become a CEO of a major company. Many people had talked about how their status would never last, and he even heard comments about it being a shame that the woman was an unclaimed omega.

Stiles had been inspired by that woman and promised himself that he would do everything he could to surpass everyone’s expectations as an omega, just like she did.

“Come on, dude! How long are you going to take making your profile? We’re heading out soon with the others.” Stiles nearly jumped out of his skin at Scott’s voice.

“Jesus Christ!” He exclaimed, turning his laptop away from Scott’s eyes. “You can’t rush perfection.”

Scott snorted and rolled his eyes. “It’s a dating site, how complicated can it be?”

“You would be surprised. You’re lucky you found your mate in high school, some of us need an extra hand finding ours.” Stiles pointed out. “Just give me a second and I’ll be ready, alright?”

“Alright, I’ll tell everyone to meet us in fifteen minutes?”

Stiles nodded his reply, going back to typing a few more quick things before he finished his profile and entered the world of online dating.

 

“I swear to god, Scott, I didn’t know it was possible to receive this many dick pics in just _two_ weeks.” Stiles complained, frowning at his phone as he took a swig of his beer. In just the two weeks that had passed since he had created his dating profile, he received way too many pictures and uncomfortable messages than he would have expected. Many of them were comments about his mouth.

“Welcome to the world of the internet.” Lydia stated, raising her eyebrows. “That’s basically how it is for all of us women.”

Stiles sighed and nodded. “I know and it’s disgusting. A guy told me we wants to put his dick in my mouth and see what my mouth can do, and when I said I would bite him, he got even more into it.”

Lydia grimaced and nodded. “The longer you’re on, the grosser it will get.”

“On the bright side, I have a date this weekend. I found this really nice guy I click with, and so I’m hoping we hit it off really well. We’re meeting here.”

“Nice! If you need me to leave the apartment, I can stay at Allison’s for the night.” Stiles snorted at Scott’s words but smiled wider.

“We’ll see how it goes. I’ll text you and let you know.”

 

Stiles was back at the bar, 7 PM sharp on Saturday. He bounced his leg as he sat at the bar, working off some of his nervous energy. He drummed his fingers on the counter, trying his best not to obsessively check his phone. He was expecting to be stood up, or to have been Catfished. With the ratio of creepy messages versus the actual genuine ones, he wouldn’t be surprised if the guy he had been talking to was too good to be true.

“Hey, Stiles right?” He glanced up at the man that approached him and his eyes lit up. Brown eyes, neat blonde hair, just like in his pictures.

“Yeah.” He grinned, offering him his hand.

“Nice to meet you in person, I’m Kevin. As you know.” He joked.

Stiles laughed lightly and nodded. “I would hope so. I’m definitely nervous. Trying to figure out how this whole thing works. Do I hug you?”

“I mean, I wouldn’t be against it.” Stiles smiled wider and hugged him before taking a step back.

“So, what do you want to do tonight? Get some drinks and then go from there?” He asked, raising his eyebrows as he sat down again.

“That sounds perfect.” Kevin replied, sitting down beside him.

Stiles ended up spending much of the evening with him at the bar, talking about each other’s lives and interests. Kevin was twenty-eight and worked at one of the offices nearby. They both had the same taste in music and even had gone to some of the same shows. Kevin complimented Stiles on his laugh when he told him a joke that had Stiles cracking up.

Stiles thought that maybe he could see something happening with this guy, something long term. He even kissed him a couple times. Of course, Stiles had a couple too many drinks and excused himself to the bathroom so he could walk around a little and try to clear his head. When he made it to the bathroom, he felt hands on his shoulder before they turned him around and pushed him up against a wall.

Stiles’ head swam for a second when his head smacked against the tiles on the wall. “Whoops, sorry, didn’t mean to be that rough.”

“Kevin? What the hell?” He asked, frowning and rubbing the back of his head. He felt lips on his neck and grimaced, especially when he felt a brush of fangs. A pang of discomfort and fear shot through his body and he quickly tried to push him away.

“Come on, Stiles. We both know Omegas are just looking to be claimed, right? You respond well to me, we both know it.”

Stiles’ eyes widened and he pushed harder. “What the fuck, man! Back off!” He snapped.

Kevin pulled away and glared at him. “Oh come on, stop playing hard to get. You and I both know what Omegas are for. You’re too smart to pretend otherwise.”

Stiles felt enraged by his words. “Fuck you! Get away from me.” He shouted.

Kevin growled and quickly covered Stiles’ mouth. “Calm down or we’re both going to get in trouble. I’m not going to do anything to you, but you need to shut up. Learn to take a joke.”

The bathroom door opened and Stiles recognized the man as one of the usual bartenders.

“What’s going on here?” He asked, looking between Stiles and Kevin.

“Nothing, he just got a little over excited. He’s fine.” The bartender looked at Stiles’ expression and noticed the fear in his eyes before he focused on Kevin again.

“You have about thirty seconds to leave my bar. If you’re not out the doors by then, I’m going to kick your ass. If you even step foot near this bar, or near him again, I will not hesitate to hurt you.” The bartender stated, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Excuse me? He’s fine. We were just messing around a little. It’s no big deal.”

The bartender didn’t budge. “Did I stutter? Take your hands off him, or I will. You won’t like it if I have to do it.” The bartender’s eyes flashed red to punctuate just how serious he was.

Kevin shot Stiles a dirty look and opened his mouth, but when the bartender took a step closer, he quickly pulled away and bolted through the bathroom door.

Stiles slowly slid down the wall and pulled his knees to his chest. He was so fucking stupid. He couldn’t believe he didn’t see through that asshole’s bullshit.

The bartender slowly took a step closer to Stiles and crouched down to his level. “Do you need water or anything? Is there anything that I can do?”

Stiles shook his head and took a shaky breath. “I just need a minute.” He sighed and looked over towards the bartender. “You know, I don’t think I’ve ever gotten your name.”

The bartender offered a small smile. “It’s Derek.”

 

Once Stiles was okay enough, Derek offered to walk him home. Stiles wanted to be stubborn at first, but after thinking it over, he realized it would be best.

“You live near campus right?” Derek asked, pulling on his leather jacket as they walked to the doors.

Stiles nodded and raised his eyebrows. “Yeah, how do you know?”  
Derek raised his eyebrows. “You and your friends are almost always here. You guys also don’t exactly talk quietly when you’re excited.”

Stiles grimaced. That was very true. “You never tell us to be quiet.”

Derek shrugged. “You’re not obnoxious about it. You’re just kids having fun.”

“Dude, I’m twenty-four. Not exactly a kid.” Stiles stated.

“You’re still a kid.”

“Okay, if I’m still a kid, how old are you?”

“I’ll be thirty in November.” Derek replied.

Stiles snorted softly and shook his head. “Alright then, grace me with your wisdom since you seem to have much more in those extra six years.” He joked.

Derek seemed to think about it as they continued walking down the sidewalk. “Keep your friends close. You all seem like you’re really good friends, don’t lose that.”

“I don’t think that will be a problem. Scott and I’ve been friends since Kindergarten. The rest of us have pretty much grown up together too. I read something that said if a friendship lasts more than seven years, it’s bound to last a lifetime.”

“Hm. Maybe you have more wisdom than I do.” 

Stiles laughed and playfully nudged his knuckles against Derek’s arm. “Not so bad for some kid, right?”

Derek smiled wider and nodded. “Yeah, not bad at all.”

 

They made it to Stiles’ apartment nearly ten minutes later and Stiles paused once they got up the stairs. “Would you want to come inside? I can make coffee or something?”

Derek glanced at his watch. The numbers flashed 10:50 up at him. “Yeah, sounds good.” He replied, shrugging as he looked back up at him.

Stiles grinned and nodded as he got his keys out of his pocket so he could unlock the front door. “Good answer.”

He pushed the door open once it was unlocked and motioned Derek to follow him inside.  
“Hey, you’re home? How did the date go?” Scott asked as he left his room, wanting to hear the details.

“Don’t wanna talk about it, but he was an absolute asshole!” Stiles called as he headed towards the kitchen so he could make some coffee for him and Derek.

“Wait, really? What happened?” Scott turned the corner and furrowed his eyebrows when he saw Derek with Stiles. “Oh, hey, Derek. What’s up?”

Stiles raised his eyebrows and looked between them. “You know Derek?”

Scott raised his eyebrows. “Dude, we’re always in his bar.”

“Wait, you own the bar?” Derek raised his own eyebrows as he and Scott both stared at Stiles.

“How did you not know this?” Scott asked after a moment of trying to figure out if Stiles was kidding.

Stiles sighed and looked back at the coffee machine. “You’re the one always grabbing the drinks. I never really talked to him a lot.” He muttered, almost pouting since he was feeling a little left out.

“So, Derek, what happened?” Scott asked curiously. “Or are you two on a date?”

Stiles tensed and shot Scott an ‘are you kidding me, dude?’ look. Stiles definitely thought that Derek was attractive, but now that Scott had opened his mouth, he was pretty sure the chance for that went out the window. Stiles awkwardly passed Derek a mug of coffee while doing really well at not looking him in the eyes.

“We’re not on a date. I told Stiles I’d walk him home, because he felt unsafe.” Derek replied. “But, if he would ever like to, I wouldn’t mind it.” He added, mixing some sugar into his coffee before looking at Stiles again. “Creamer?”

Stiles would have been more than happy to grab Derek some of their coffee creamer if he wasn’t too busy staring at him with a slack jawed expression on his face. Did Derek just really say that? He just said that.

Scott, being the great friend he was, walked past Stiles and got the creamer for Derek. “Here you go. He’s also free this weekend?” Scott looked back at Stiles for confirmation.

Stiles opened and shut his mouth for a moment. “Um?”

Derek poured some creamer into his coffee mug and looked up at Stiles again. “Would that be okay?”

Stiles pursed his lips for a moment before nodding. “Yeah, I’d be cool with that.” He slowly smiled wider.

 

On Stiles’ first date with Derek, they met up at a restaurant to get something to eat before they finally moved on to a nearby arcade. Stiles and Derek each got a card to swipe on each of the games and loaded money on it.

“Are you ready for a little healthy competition?” Stiles grinned at him.

Derek shrugged and raised his eyebrows. “Are we setting any stakes?”

Stiles thought about it as he looked around at all of the games. “Loser has to do whatever the winner wants? Within reason obviously.”

Derek pondered it for a brief moment before he nodded. “I’m okay with that.”

Most of the competition was neck and neck, if one of them managed to pull ahead, the other would close the gap between them again. Once they were down to their last game, Derek and Stiles agreed that Skeeball would be the perfect tie breaker.

“I’m pretty good at Skeeball, just saying. I was undefeated as a kid.” Stiles bragged, grabbing his first ball and sinking it right into the fifty point hole.

“Is that so?” Derek asked, taking his first ball in hand. He bounced the ball up in his hand to test the weight before rolling it straight into the one hundred point hole. He met Stiles’ stunned expression with a smug one. “Undefeated, right? Are you sure you can still hold onto that title?”

“Oh, it’s on now. I was just warming up, didn’t want to scare you away right at the beginning.” Stiles replied as he grabbed another ball.

“If you say so.” Derek snorted.

Derek won with a sixty point lead. Stiles’ competitive side wanted to challenge him to a rematch, but the balance on their cards had hit zero.

“As much as I don’t want to admit it, a win's a win, so I guess I’ll graciously pass on my title of Undefeated Skeeball Champion onto you. Take good care of that title and hold it dear, because I know I sure did.” Stiles said dramatically as he even bowed for Derek.

“I promise I will cherish it.” Derek replied.

Stiles smiled wider and clasped his hands together. “So about that prize? What do you want me to do?”

Derek pursed his lips together and tapped his foot for a moment. “Can I kiss you?”

Stiles laughed outright. “That’s it?”

Derek thought it over and nodded. “That’s it.”

Stiles smiled wider and stepped closer to Derek. “You can kiss me.” Derek took a step closer to Stiles and gently cupped his face in his hands before he gently his lips to Stiles’. Stiles let out a soft sigh against Derek’s mouth as Derek brushed his thumb over the curve of Stiles’ cheek. Stiles had been kissed many times before, but never had it felt like this. This kiss made him feel warm. Derek’s touch sent shiver throughout his body and made his skin tingle. Derek’s touch made him crave more.

Derek slowly pulled away, but Stiles followed and kissed him again. He felt Derek smile against his mouth and ended up smiling himself as he finally pulled away. “Sorry, guess I got a little excited there.”

Derek shook his head and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “That’s perfectly okay.” He said softly. As they turned towards the prize center, Derek rested a hand on the back of his neck as he followed him. Stiles didn’t tense like he normally did when someone touched his neck, he felt calm. He furrowed his eyebrows at the realization and looked back at Derek. Derek noticed the questioning look on his face and pulled his hand away quickly. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

Stiles shook his head and took Derek’s hand in his before Derek’s could hide away in his jacket pocket. “You didn’t make me uncomfortable.” He said honestly.

 

After their first date, Stiles spent much more of his time with Derek when they both had free time. Stiles had finals coming up, and Derek had his own work to take care of. Stiles had even deleted his online dating profile. After that night with Kevin, he was done with it. Besides, Derek was much, much better than some asshole with an arsenal of dick pics at the ready.

During a long night of studying one evening, Stiles had texted Derek.

_’How are you holding up without me? - S’_

_’I’m getting by, but it’s been very slow. You? - DH’_

_’I’m sooooooo bored. I feel like my brain is going to seep through my ears if I stare any longer at this textbook. - S’_

_’We definitely don’t want that. Take a break? - DH’_

_’Yeah, I’m going to probably make a food run. What about you? Are you hungry? I can drop something off. - S’_

_’If it’s not a problem, that would be great. I’m starving. - DH’_

Stiles grinned as an idea popped into his head. _But are you...Hungry Like The Wolf? - S’_

He watched as the read receipt popped up, followed by the three periods of Derek typing a response.

_’Ha ha, how original. If I get that song stuck in my head, I’ll know who to blame. - DH’_

_’Lmao, fair enough. I’ll swing by soon with food. Don’t have too much fun without me. - S’_

_’I’ll try. - DH’_

Stiles smiled at his phone and sent a couple heart emojis before he went ahead and ordered Chinese take out at their usual place. It took about fifteen minutes to walk to Derek’s bar. When he got there, he spotted Derek easily, but Derek was busy talking to another man.

“When are you going to bring home this omega that we’ve all been smelling on you? Everyone has been dying to meet him.”

Derek shrugged as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I’ll bring him home soon. We’ve both been pretty busy lately.”

“So you’re carrying on your habit of collecting strays? That’s so like you, Derek.” Stiles frowned at those words. What the hell was _that_ supposed to mean? Collecting strays?

Derek rolled his eyes a little but didn’t say anything. The other man carried on. “But I do have to say it’s interesting. You’ve received many offers from prominent families, but you’re invested in an omega? I wonder what has you so attached to him. He is just an omega afterall.” Stiles tightened his grip on his bag. Was Derek really just like every other guy he’d met? Maybe he should stop looking and just give up on ever finding anyone. “Oh, don’t sulk and glare at me, I’m only teasing. I trust you to make good judgments. I’ll check in with you later, have a good night.”

Stiles lowered his gaze to the ground and kept his hands balled so tightly into fists that they were shaking.

“Stiles?” Derek’s eyes widened a little when Stiles glared at him. He motioned for Stiles to follow him to one of the back rooms and Stiles did. He wanted answers now.

Once they were in the room and Derek faced Stiles again, Stiles finally opened his mouth. “What the hell was that? You collect strays?”

Derek sighed as he crossed his arms over his chest. “That doesn’t mean anything. My uncle just likes to get under people’s skin.”

“So you _don’t_ collect strays?”

“My uncle calls my pack that. I took them all under me because they needed protection.”

“Do I look like I need protection, Derek?” Stiles snapped at him. Derek’s eyes widened at his anger.

“I never said that. I don’t want you to be under me.”

“Are you sure about that? Because that’s all everyone ever seems to want from me!” Stiles’ vision blurred and he set the bag of food on the table so he could wipe angrily at his face. “You know what the worst part of it is? I thought you were different. I _really_ liked you, Derek. More than I’ve ever liked anyone.”

Derek reached out to Stiles, but when Stiles shied away from him, he lowered his hand. “I don’t want you to be in my pack like that. I didn’t say anything to my uncle because I wanted to discuss it with you first. I believe that you’re my mate, Stiles.”

Stiles stared at him in disbelief. “You do?”

Derek sighed and nodded, crossing his arms to his chest so he didn’t give into the urge to take Stiles in his arms. “I’ve been drawn to you since the day you walked into my bar with your friends. I like the way that you aren’t afraid to voice your opinions, and that you’ve got such a strong will. I liked seeing you laugh with your friends and the way your eyes light up when you get excited. You smell like home, to me, Stiles. I don’t see you as some omega, I see you as my equal. Everything feels better when I’m with you.”

Stiles bit his lip as he listened to Derek. He focused on Derek’s scent and listened to his heartbeat. Derek was nervous, but he wasn’t lying.

“But what about those other people that tried courting you?”

Derek rolled his eyes and snorted in distaste. “They were all people that only wanted me for my family name.”

Stiles thought that maybe he was missing something. “Wait, what’s your family name?”

Derek raised an eyebrow. “Hale.”

Stiles’ eyes widened. “Wait a second, as in Talia Hale? The extremely prominent CEO that made headlines for encouraging healthy dynamics between alphas, betas, and omegas? The woman that _created_ the crisis hotline I volunteer at?” Stiles thought about it a little and gasped. “Your dad is the fucking Dean at my school.”

Derek nodded. “You can see why people were jumping at the chance to try to court me. I don’t want someone that only cares about my family’s money. I want you, but only if you want me too.”

Stiles sighed as he felt himself calm down. He didn’t feel angry or hurt anymore. He took a step closer and took Derek’s hands. “Dude, I don’t care about your money. I don’t care who your family is, even though they sound super awesome, aside from your uncle. He’s a dick.” Derek nodded. That was fair. “I’m happiest when I’m talking to you. I feel safe when I’m with you. I guess what I’m trying to say is, I think I was figuring out that you might be my mate too.”

Derek sighed in relief and nodded as he lifted his hands to cup Stiles’ face as he rested their foreheads together and stared into his eyes. “Can we start over?”

Stiles laughed outright and smiled a little wider. “Hi, I’m Stiles. I’m twenty-four years old and a college student. I definitely love good food and having a good time. California born and raised, and I’m really into this really hot guy in this bar I go to. He seems kind of gruff, but he’s got a heart of gold, and he’s one of the sweetest guys I’ve ever met. He’s like a teddy bear.”

Derek laughed and shook his head, rolling his eyes playfully. “Hi, Stiles. I’m Derek. I’m twenty-nine and I run a bar. I love classic literature and going hiking. I’m also from California, and I like this really stubborn, really hard headed guy. He doesn’t hesitate to stand up for what he believes in, and would protect those close to him with everything he has. He doesn’t let anything stand in his way, and I really respect that. He’s also a bed hog, and he constantly steals all of the blankets in my bed whenever he stays over.”

Stiles snorted and laughed outright. “I’m not a bed hog!”

Derek smiled wider and nodded as he lowered a hand to rub the back of Stiles’ neck. “You’re a total bed hog, but you didn’t let me finish. This guy, he gets this gleam in his eyes when he gets really competitive or inspired, like this spark in him had awakened. I’d never seen anything like it. When I beat him mercilessly on Skeeball during our first date and we had our first kiss, I realized I think I loved him.”

Stiles grinned and slid his arms around Derek’s neck, leaning forwards to close the gap between them and kiss him. He brushed his fingers against Derek’s hair, humming against his mouth before he pulled away. “For the record, you didn’t ‘mercilessly’ beat me. It was almost a tie.”

Derek smiled as he rubbed Stiles’ back. “I still beat you.”

“Maybe I’ll challenge you to a rematch.” Stiles murmured. “But…Yeah, I think I might love you too.” He loved seeing the way his words made Derek’s smile widen before Derek kissed him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Accompanying graphic [here!](http://melodramaticsalad.tumblr.com/post/166922532213)


End file.
